ARPANET

acronym from Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, set up in 1969 by a branch of the U.S. Department of Defense in partnership with four universities; acknowledged as "the world's first operational packet switching network" and predecessor of the Internet.

(är'pə-nět) A computer network developed by the Advanced Research Project Agency (now the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency) in the 1960s and 1970s as a means of communication between research laboratories and universities. ARPANET was the predecessor to the Internet.

Arpanet definition

An acronym for Advanced Research Project Agency Network. An early communications network developed by the Department of Defense in the late 1960s. It connected high-tech research institutions and the military.

Note: Creating a communications system that could survive a nuclear war was a major impetus behind the development of this system.